Pile wire loom



A. CRAWFORD PILE WIRE LOOM Feb. 8, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 13, 1954 621.94! In: A 77 2 7 m m m M mm mm kw A. CRAWFORD PILE WIRE LOOM Feb. 8, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 15, 1954 INVENTOR.

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FILE WIRE LOOM Filed Jan. 15, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent PILE WIRE LOOM Allan Crawford, Amsterdam, N. Y., assignor to Mohawk Carpet Mills, Inc., Amsterdam, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 13, 1954, Serial No. 403,808

8 Claims. (Cl. 139-104) This invention relates to looms for weaving pile fabrics and is concerned more particularly with a novel pile fabric loom, which is especially adapted for use in the weaving of pile fabrics in accordance with the method described and claimed in the U. S. patent to Crawford 2,553,303, issued May 15, 1951. In the practice of the Crawford method, certain pile yarns, selected in accordance with a pattern, are raised by Jacquard mechanism over pile wires to produce pile loops lying in transverse rows in the fabrics, while the pile warp yarns not so raised are caused to form loops of lower height in the same rows. The new loom makes possible the practice of the Crawford method with close control over the formation of the pile loops, which are not raised over pile wires, so that pile fabrics produced in accordance with the Crawford method on the new loom are of }Jetter quality than such fabrics produced on an ordinary com.

The Crawford method, as described in the patent, is carried out on a typical pile wire loom and, in the practice of the method in the production of a pile fabric of simple construction, which is suitable for use as floor covering, the pile warp yarns are maintained under relatively light tension, while the other warp yarns, consisting of binder and stulfer yarns, are under relatively heavy tension. The warp yarns are manipulated to form sheds in accordance with a cycle and pile wires are inserted into alternate sheds and a weft yarn is inserted into each shed. In each shed, into which a weft yarn only is inserted, all the pile yarns are in the lower line of the shed and lie slightly above the remaining warp yarns in that line, while binder warp yarns lie in the upper line of the shed. When the weft yarn inserted into such a shed is beaten up, it moves toward the fell of the fabric in contact with the pile yarns in the lower line of the shed and all the warp yarns are brought to parallelism by the harnesses and Jacquard cords somewhat earlier than is usual. From the time that the warp yarns become parallel, the weft yarn is caused to press against the pile yarns and, as the beat-up continues, the rubbing of the weft yarn forces portions of the pile yarns ahead of it. Some of the portions of the pile yarns thus pushed by the weft yarn form parts of the loops over the pile wire inserted into the next preceding shed, while the remainder rise in loops held by the weft yarn against the rear surface of the pile wire. Upon withdrawal of the wire, the high loops of yarns over the wire and the low loops of yarns lying against the rear face of the wire lie aligned in the same transverse row.

In the practice of the Crawford method on an ordinary loom, the height of the pile loops formed of pile yarns pushed upward by a weft yarn against the rear surface of a pile yarn during a beat-up varies with the length of the interval between the time when the warp yarns are brought into parallelism during the beat-up and the end of the beat-up. Thus, the height of such loops may be increased by advancing the timing of the shedding motion to increase the interval mentioned and may be decreased by retarding the shedding motion and shortening, the interval. However, with the pile yarns under slack tension, the control in an ordinary loom of the height of the pile loops not raised over pile wires is not as close as is desirable and there is occasionally such a variation in the height of such loops as to give the fabric an objectionable appearance.

The present invention is directed to the provision of a novel pile wire loom, which, when employed in the 2,701,586 Patented Feb. 8, 1955 practice of the Crawford method, provides a close control over the height of pile loops, which are not raised over pile wires, but are pushed up by the action of weft yarns being beaten up. The loom of the invention is of conventional construction, except that it is provided with means brought into action periodically in timed relation to the operation of the loom and acting to prevent longitudinal movement of the pile yarns relative to one another. When the warp yarns are formed into a shed, into which a weft yarn only is to be inserted, the holding means mentioned is out of action and the yarns are under uniform tension. After the weft yarn has been inserted and the beat-up is started, the holding means is made effective and the pile yarns are moved toward level position. The yarns selected by the Jacquard mechanism are raised above the horizontal to form the upper line of the succeeding shed, while the remaining pile yarns stay level. The raising of the selected pile yarns above the level position causes a definite amount of slack to be introduced into the yarns, which remained level, and, as the beat-up is completed, portions of the slack yarns are raised to form the low pile loops.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a partial side elevational view, with parts broken away, of a loom embodying the invention, certain features of the loom being shown diagrammatically;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal view on an enlarged scale through a fabric being made by the method of the Crawford patent above mentioned;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of part of the loom shown in Fig. 1;

Figs. 46 are diagrammatic views showing the operation of the new loom in controlling the height of the low loops in the fabric; and

Fig. 7 is an end elevational view of a modified feature of the loom.

The loom illustrated in the drawings is of conventional construction and includes sides 10 connected by the usual girts 11 and provided with a cam shaft 12 extending across the loom and mounted for rotation in bearings 13 carried by the sides. The sides are provided with brackets having bearing sockets for the journals of a beam 15 carrying two sets of binder warp yarns 16, 17. The binder yarns pass from the beam about a guide roll 18 and are maintained under tension by a bar 20 carried by a bell crank 21 acted on by weights 22. The binder yarns of the two sets are passed through the eyes of respective heddles 23, 24 of the harness mechanism.

Stuifer warp yarns 25 are supplied from a beam 26 having its journals seated in bearing sockets in stands 27 secured to the floor adjacent the loom and the stands are provided with suitable means for retarding the beam 26 to maintain the stuffer yarns under tension. The stuifer yarns pass from the beam about guides 28, 28a to the eyes of a heddle frame 29.

The pile warp yarns 30 are supplied by spools 31 mounted in a creel made up of a plurality of frames 32, although, if preferred, the pile yarn packages may be mounted in an upright creel. Each spool 31 carries a single end of yarn and the yarn is led from the package around a guide pin 33 and then over the top of the spool and beneath a tension weight 34 of horseshoe form. The yarn then passes over a fixed rod 35 and through a dent in a guide reed 36 mounted between brackets 37 attached to the loom sides. After leaving the reed, the sheet of pile warp yarns passes beneath a guide roll 38 mounted for free rotation in arms 38a adjustably attached to brackets 37.

Beyond the guide roll 38, the warp yarns pass over a roll 39 having an abrasive surface formed by means of emery or other grit. Roll 39 may be mounted for free rotation in brackets 37 or, if desired and as shown in Fig. 7, the roll may be positively held against movement permitting the warp yarns in contact therewith to travel backward toward their spools. For this purpose, the roll may be provided with a ratchet wheel 40 acted on by a spring-pressed pawl 41.

A pair of arms 42 are mounted at opposite ends for free rotational movement on the journals of roll 39 and the arms project outwardly beyond the circumference of the roll. The outer ends of the arms are connected by a sheet metal shield 43, which is of curved section to conform to the curvature of the roll. One of the arms 42 has an extension 42a connected by a rod 44 of adjustable length to an arm 45 rigidly attached to a shaft 46 mounted for free rotation in bearings 47 in standards 48 mounted on girt 11. A second arm 49 fast upon shaft 46 carries a roll 50 running on the surface of a cam disc 51 on the bottom shaft 12 of the loom. During the rotation of cam 51, the arms 42 are rocked to oscillate the shield 43 between a position, in which the shield is interposed between the pile yarns and roll 39, and a position, in which the shield is out of contact with the yarns, so that they rest upon roll 39. The surface of the shield is smooth, so that the yarns may slide easily thereon.

Beyond roll 39, the pile yarns pass to the eyes of respective harness cords 52 carrying weights 52a and 52b. During the operation of the loom, the cords are raised and lowered by a Jacquard mechanism diagrammatically indicated at 53 in accordance with the requirements of the pattern. The loom is equipped with the usual reed 54 mounted on an oscillating lay and acting to beat up weft yarns 55 and pile wires 56 inserted by conventional shuttle and wire motions, respectively. The finished fabric indicated at 57 is supported upon a breastplate 58.

In Figs. 4-6, incl., the operation of the new loom is illustrated in the weaving of a fabric shown in Fig. 2. The fabric includes warp yarns 30a, which, in the portion of the fabric illustrated, are raised over pile wires 56 to form high loops, and other pile yarns 30b, which have been forced upwardly against the rear surfaces of the wires to form low loops. The fabric includes weft yarns 55a, 55b in upper and lower levels above and below the stutfer warp yarns and the pile yarns are raised over the wires or pushed up against the rear surfaces of the wires to form pile loops in the rows in each space between adjacent upper weft yarns 55a. The weft yarns are held in place by the binder warp yarns 16, 17, which cross in each space between successive pairs of weft yarns.

The diagram Fig. 4 shows a part of a shed being formed by downward movement of the pile yarns a, 30b, while the binder warp yarns 16 remain in a horizontal position. In the shed illustrated, the binder warp yarns 17 and the stutter warp yarns 25 would also be in the lower line of the shed with the pile warp yarns, but have been omitted from the diagram for the sake of clarity. While the pile warp yarns are moving down, the shield 43 is moving out from between the pile warp warns and the roll 39, and, while the yarns are in contact with the shield and free to move relatively to one another, all the yarns are under equal tension produced by their weights 34. When the yarns 353a, 30b have reached the lower limit of their movement, the shield 43 will have moved around roll 39 and out from under the yarns, so that the yarns are in contact with the roll and cannot move lengthwise except in unison. Upon completion of the downward movement of yarns 30a and 30b, a pick of filling yarn is inserted in the shed between yarns 30a, 30b and the binder warp yarns 16, and the lay begins to beat up the pick.

As the lay starts the beat-up. all the pile warp yarns 30a, 30b are raised by their harness cords toward the horizontal, and, during such movement, the shield 43 lies out from between the pile warp yarns and roll 39. As the yarns 30a, 30b are raised, slack develops in the yarns and is taken up by the lowering of their weights 34 with accompanying clockwise rotation of roll 39, when the roll is viewed as shown in Fig. 5. As the beat-up of the inserted pick 55 continues, certain of the pile warp yarns, which are selected by the Jacquard mechanism, are raised by their harness cords above the horizontal, such yarns being typified in Fig. 6 by yarns 30a. As yarns 30a rise above the horizontal, they are pulled in the direction away from the creel and this causes roll 39 to rotate counter-clockwise. In such rotation of roll 39, pile warp yarns 30b, which have remained in level position, are slackened by the length of each yarn 30a drawn from its spool as that yarn is raised to the upper line of the shed. As explained in the Crawford Patent 2,553,303, the beat-up of pick 55 causes the slack portions of yarns 30b to be pushed up into locus 59, which are substantially lower than the loops 6% formed over wires 56. The low loops 59 formed in any til beat-up lie against the rear surface of the previously inserted wire 56 and, when the wire is ultimately removed from the loops of yarn raised over it, the low loops move into alignment with the high loops over the wire.

When the beat-up resulting in the formation of the low loops 59 is nearly completed, the shield 43 moves back into position between the pile warp yarns and roll 39. As soon as this occurs, any slack in the pile warp yarns can be taken up by the rearward movement of the yarns over the shield by their weights 34 and the yarns thus assume a condition of equal tension throughout the warp. With the shield in position between the yarns and roll 39, the next shed is formed and a wire is inserted in the upper part of the shed below pile warp yarns 30a and above pile warp yarns 30b and binder warp yarns 16, while a pick of filling is inserted in the lower part of the shed below the yarns in level position. The shield 43 stays in place, until the beat-up of the wire and pick is completed, and, during the beat-up, the yarns 30a, 30]) move downwardly, as illustrated in Fig. 4, and the shield 43 moves from between the pile warp yarns and roll 39. A cycle of operations of the shield is thus completed.

In the operation of a loom equipped with roll 39 and shield 43 in the practice of the method of the Crawford patent, uniformity in the height of the low loops 59 is o tained by reason of the fact that a definite amount of slack is made available in those yarns, of which the low loops are to be formed. The amount of slack is determined by the amount of yarn, which must be drawn off from a spool when a yarn is raised from the level to the high line of the shed. The amount of slack is thus determined by the height, to which a pile warp yarn is raised in moving to the upper line of the shed. As explained in the Crawford patent, the height of the low loops is also affected by the timing of the harness motion, an advance in the timing, that is, an earlier closing of the shed, causing an increase in the height of the loops.

I claim:

1. In a pile wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, means normally eifective to engage the pile yarns between the harness cords and the tension means and to hold the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, and means for rendering the holding means inoperative periodically in timed relation to the operation of the loom.

2. In a pile Wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, means engageable with the pile yarns between the harness cords and the tension means and operable to hold the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, and means for operating the holding means in timed relation to the operation of the loom on alternate beat-ups.

3. In a pile wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, means including a roll with a friction surface normally effective to engage the pile yarns between the harness cords and the tension means and to hold the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, and means for rendering the holding means inoperative periodically in timed relation to the operation of the loom.

4. In a pile wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile.

yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, a roll with a friction surface in position to be engaged by the pile yarns be tween the harness cords and the tension means and operable to hold the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, an element movable between the roll and the yarns and permitting free longitudinal movement of the yarns relative to one another, and means operating in timed relation to the operation of the loom for moving the element into and out of position between the roll and the yarns.

5. In a pile wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, a roll with a friction surface in position to be engaged by the pile yarns between the harness cords and the tension means and operable to hold the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, a shield mounted for oscillation about the axis of rotation of the roll, and means operating in timed relation to the operation of the loom for moving the shield into and out of position between the roll and the yarns, the shield having a smooth surface engageable by the yarns.

6. In a pile wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, means including a roll with a friction surface engageable with the pile yarns between the harness cords and the tension means for holding the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, a mounting for the roll permitting its free rotation at least in a direction with the yarns engaged thereby moving away from the creel, an element movable between the.

roll and the yarns and permitting free longitudinal movement of the yarns relative to one another, and means operating in timed relation to the operation of the loom for moving the element into and out of position between the roll and the yarns.

7. In a pile wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, means including a roll with a friction surface engageable with the pile yarns between the harness cords and the tension means for holding the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, a support for the roll, means on the support preventing its movement in a direction with the yarns engaged thereby moving toward the creel, an element movable between the roll and the yarns and permitting free longitudinal movement of the yarns relative to one another, and means operating in timed relation to the operation of the loom for moving the element into and out of position between the roll and the yarns.

8. In a pile Wire loom having harness cords for individual pile yarns and pattern-controlled mechanism for raising and lowering the cords to form sheds, the combination of a creel for supporting packages of the pile yarns, tension means adjacent the creel for taking up slack in the individual pile yarns, a roll with a friction surface in position to be engaged by the pile yarns between the harness cords and the tension means and operable to hold the yarns against longitudinal movement relative to one another, a shield mounted for oscillation about the axis of rotation of the roll, a cam rotated in timed relation to the operation of the loom, and means operated by the cam for moving the shield into and out of position between the roll and the yarns, the shield having a smooth surface engageable by the yarns.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,373,091 Astley Apr. 10, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 252,564 Great Britain June 3, 1926 629,557 France Aug. 1, 1927 

